Ogier battles on in the World Rally Championship at the Tour de Corse

Scots rally co-driver Stuart Loudon was once again part of the back-up team for French driver Sebastien Ogier in the latest round of the World Rally Championship – the Tour de Corse. You can find out the reaction of both men after a tough contest here, as well as watch a Red Bull TV video rounding up the action.

“One of the challenges is to look after tyres and brakes. It’s so easy to push too hard through the first half of a stage, maybe on an uphill section, only to find you’re compromised on the downhill or towards the end of the test.”

In the event, Frenchman Ogier and co-driver Julian Ingrassia first battled problems with the set-up of their Ford Fiesta WRC then a hydraulics issue and finally dodgy electrics to pull a second podium place out of the bag.

Sebastien Ogier in his Ford Fiesta on Corsica (Image: Red Bull TV)

It was enough to maintain Ogier’s position at the top of the drivers’ table, Ingrassia’s as number one co-driver and M-Sport as the leading manufacturers.

Ogier said: “It has definitely been a roller-coaster weekend for us. We’ve had lots of highs and lows but I’m happy to say that we finished on a high with some really good points for the championship.

“We had the pace to challenge Thierry for the win – only two seconds behind him before the technical problems – but, of course, we have some work to do to ensure we don’t repeat this stressful weekend.”

So far in four races, four different cars have taken the top spot, the Ford Fiesta WRC, a Toyota Yaris WRC, a Citroen WRC and now Neuville in a Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC.

Going into the race, Neuville, was seen as the man to beat since he is a previous winner on the full Tarmac course through mountainous terrain and incredibly tricky roads.